OT: The Pittsburgher Thread: Oh no! They are 3 and 1. Panic!

[bigdaddyk88]

Also, and unless Roman Wilson is injured he should be inserted into the line up. He's not exactly going against world beaters at WR2 or WR3.

He has to be better than Jefferson

 

[Colonel Mustard]

Team needs another wr, which we’ve known since they traded dj.

Minkah hasnt made a play in like 2 years now

 

[Buddy Bizarre]

I like the addition of Jackson a lot. We finally have two solid corners which I cannot remember happening since the 90's. The baffling thing is that they are good at finding WR's. They have a recent 3rd round pick standing on the sidelines. They continue to roll with this anemic WR corp while Fields is actually not playing poorly. The whole WR saga is baffling in many different ways.

3rd round pick inactive the past 2 games.
The best WR sits on the bench a good portion of the game in place of a mediocre player.

"Why don't we have a better WR corps?"
The pieces of the puzzle are on the table. I'm not saying it's going to be a perfect fit, but you can create a decent enough picture with what pieces are available.

 

[JTG]

He grades very similarly to Diontae as a rookie. If he's not hurt it's absurd he's not playing...which is why the Jackson-Johnson trade actually made sense. To do that trade and then not play WIlson is weird.

Team needs another wr, which we’ve known since they traded dj.

Minkah hasnt made a play in like 2 years now

Minkah is another Pouncey. I think his name has more clout than his play does.

 

[Colonel Mustard]

He grades very similarly to Diontae as a rookie. If he's not hurt it's absurd he's not playing...which is why the Jackson-Johnson trade actually made sense. To do that trade and then not play WIlson is weird.



Minkah is another Pouncey. I think his name has more clout than his play does.

It just feels like we see a lot of plays where theres a miscommunication and he gets beat badly.

 

[Buddy Bizarre]

22 snaps for Pickens.
It's f***ing criminal. I'd probably give up too

 

[xlm34]

22 snaps for Pickens.
It's f***ing criminal. I'd probably give up too

He’s very clearly in the doghouse for reasons. I think it’s a pretty tough situation. You want to hold guys accountable but you also completely hamstring your team by not playing him.

 

[Peat]

I am waiting to see if anything more comes out of Pickens usage other than Tomlin claiming it was to try and keep him fresh, but as things stand, the usage of him effectively resulted in the "Pickens is injured" scenario that people were bringing up when talking WR acquisition in the summer. It's not surprising it sucked.

I don't think Fields handled it well. I think that was a regression week. He gets his share of the blame. But that was not a friendly environment for a QB.


And speaking of unfriendly environments, I think it's right to point that Minkah is still having to spend too much time being clean-up Minkah instead of star-Minkah because they didn't get the middle of the field acquisitions right.

I also have questions over the LB usage. Queen blossomed when the Ravens brought in Smith who'd play closer to the LoS, freeing up Queen to be more of a Mack. Queen spent most of training camp playing with Roberts, who allowed him to duplicate that. But now they're pushing Payton Wilson more and more, and Wilson isn't that guy, and in all probability not ready for a big down to down role anyway.

 

[Buddy Bizarre]

He’s very clearly in the doghouse for reasons. I think it’s a pretty tough situation. You want to hold guys accountable but you also completely hamstring your team by not playing him.

For all the praise Tomlin gets for "handling mercurial players" he isn't getting Pickens right.
You want the best out of this dude? Challenge him...he wants to prove you wrong. Give him all the snaps and I bet you see a refocused player.

 

[Empoleon8771]

I think Fields had a poor game yesterday yet he still threw for 2 TDs. Hard to give him too much shit when your RB is averaging 3 yards a carry and you only have 1 WR worth a damn.

The issues with this offense has nothing to do with Fields. The problem is that they’re a run-based team with a shitty RB and an undeveloped OL, and their pass game can’t bail it out because they only have 1 WR worth a damn. The fact that they’ve been able to produce as much as they have this year is due to Fields, put Pickett on this team and they’re not cracking 10 points a game.

 

[Peat]

He’s very clearly in the doghouse for reasons. I think it’s a pretty tough situation. You want to hold guys accountable but you also completely hamstring your team by not playing him.

When Pickens gets into that headspace, it's pretty much a lose-lose scenario. It's hard to make plays without him but it's also hard to make plays with him being lazy and disengaged.

Remember when Russini said she was keeping an eye on Pickens for the deadline and we all went wtf? Well I'm slightly less wtf now. That was the performance of a guy who doesn't seem all that keen on being in Pittsburgh and the response of a coaching staff that doesn't seem all that keen on keeping him. I still struggle to believe it'll happen this season but I think they'll listen if someone asks.

 

[xlm34]

When Pickens gets into that headspace, it's pretty much a lose-lose scenario. It's hard to make plays without him but it's also hard to make plays with him being lazy and disengaged.

Remember when Russini said she was keeping an eye on Pickens for the deadline and we all went wtf? Well I'm slightly less wtf now. That was the performance of a guy who doesn't seem all that keen on being in Pittsburgh and the response of a coaching staff that doesn't seem all that keen on keeping him. I still struggle to believe it'll happen this season but I think they'll listen if someone asks.

Yeah that made a boatload more sense after yesterday’s game. I would absolutely be open to seeing him gone this offseason, but I think you have to try to make it work with him now to give yourself even the illusion of competing.

 

[MrBrightside]

 

[xlm34]

The drop he had on 3rd down after the blocked kick was also not what you wanna see from your WR1.

 

[MrBrightside]

I mean, it's hard to get pissed at Tomlin for benching/reducing Pickens playing time when he acts like this, but when he's checked out this receiver group goes from being bad to being unplayable. A rough place to be, and that's why anyone blaming Fields and suggesting Wilson will fix is really missing the script.

 

[bigdaddyk88]

https://x.com/i/web/status/1843157333675041120

 

[Peat]

Just re Fields

If you have a QB who won't use the intermediate area of the field, you're going to have issues.

If you have a QB who won't use the intermediate area of the field and he's not connecting with his deep shots, it's kind of over.

Honestly if you look at it that way it's impressive they got 17 points. And yeah, some of that's on Fields making nice plays. But he's part of the problem too.

Yeah that made a boatload more sense after yesterday’s game. I would absolutely be open to seeing him gone this offseason, but I think you have to try to make it work with him now to give yourself even the illusion of competing.

Depends on what price you could get back for him and how aggressive the team is willing to be in replacing him. I mean, nothing's stopping them from getting 2 WRs if the Pickens return was big enough. Overhauling the WR room mid-season seems a bit crazy but if Pickens doesn't bounce back next game with a smile on his face, so is the alternative.

It's wild to me he's like this after a game where he got 11 targets and 100+ yards too. I could understand tensions running high if he had multiple bad games, but that Colts game was the sort of game that should have smoothed things over until they went wrong again. Instead we get this.

 

[Coastal Kev]

https://x.com/i/web/status/1843157333675041120

You're blaming Fields for last night??? Impressive insight

 

[bigdaddyk88]

You're blaming Fields for last night??? Impressive insight

Yes he missed 2 tds yesterday

 

[pistolpete11]

Fields hasn't been the problem on the season as a whole. I'd blame that mostly on the WR, Harris, and the overly conservative Tomlinball.

But he was bad last night. You can deflect to the other issues and they might be true, but it doesn't change he was bad on his own merits. He missed big splash plays with bad throws, missed a few open targets, and was lucky that at least one wasn't picked.

Also, I think we kind of brushed over Tomlin not allowing audibles because it's been known for quite some time. It's common sense, but there's a clip of Brady talking about it, too. You can anticipate what a defense is going to do in the huddle to a certain degree, but it's still basically a coin flip if the play you call is going to work. Even if you're a great play caller, you're working on limited information. Seeing what the defense is in, knowing the play called isn't going to work, and then running it anyway is moronic. I get you might not fully trust Fields or whoever, but you've got to give them an out.

 

[bigdaddyk88]

Fields did change plays last night. RW his first practice here was changing plays in practice

 

[MrBrightside]

Yes he missed 2 tds yesterday

How about you give us a link to these 2 missed TD's.

 

[SomeDude]

It is going to be an accomplishment to have the best defensive player of his era and never win a playoff game with him.

 

[xlm34]

Just re Fields

If you have a QB who won't use the intermediate area of the field, you're going to have issues.

If you have a QB who won't use the intermediate area of the field and he's not connecting with his deep shots, it's kind of over.

Honestly if you look at it that way it's impressive they got 17 points. And yeah, some of that's on Fields making nice plays. But he's part of the problem too.



Depends on what price you could get back for him and how aggressive the team is willing to be in replacing him. I mean, nothing's stopping them from getting 2 WRs if the Pickens return was big enough. Overhauling the WR room mid-season seems a bit crazy but if Pickens doesn't bounce back next game with a smile on his face, so is the alternative.

It's wild to me he's like this after a game where he got 11 targets and 100+ yards too. I could understand tensions running high if he had multiple bad games, but that Colts game was the sort of game that should have smoothed things over until they went wrong again. Instead we get this.

I’m not opposed at all at a mid season overhaul, especially seeing some of the clips that people are putting out focusing on Pickens. It’s legitimately embarrassing stuff from him.

I wouldn’t blame them if they just straight up sat him next week.

 

[MissADD]

IDK why I never thought about coming here to talk Steelers. Just reading though, I can tell y'all are a lot more reasonable than most. For me the 2 biggest issues that can be fixed are.

1. The o-line. The blocking scheme has been horrible. I am not sure if its the players don't understand it and they can't executed it, They don't call the right scheme at the line. The o-line coach can't teach it, or its down to Arthur Smith and an inability to call plays suited to the players he has. Something is amiss with the o-line
2. No real No. 2 option in the passing game. Muth is nice, but he isn't a player you want as your No.2 option, he offers to much blocking and CA3 is a decent 3rd option in the slot, nothing more, and to be honest Jefferson doesn't really offer anything. I get trading away Johnson if he was a problem in the locker room, but they did nothing to replace him. I get being all in on BA, but to not have any backup plan if he stayed in SF was short sighted. Not sure if trading for DA is the right move, but something needs to happen,

Another thing that makes it difficult is the injuries at ROLB with Highsmith being out and Herbig's status being up in the air. The opponents oline is now able to focus in on Watt even more with being too concerned about pressure coming from the other side. Austin needs to draw something new up until those 2 are able to go.